ADiscussionofAmericanDreambyAnalyzingMovies从美国电影看“美国梦”_开题报告

一、文献综述 Literature Review

1. Current Research

  The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity, and equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few berries. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adam in 1931, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.  

  According to the references, “American Dream” has two sides in movies. One is positive, and the other is negative.  

A lot of American movies reflect the positive meanings of “American Dream”. The typical works are Forrest Gump, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Shawshank Redemption. They reveal several positive contents and have been affecting a generation. First, people have the equal political opportunity to fight. For example, Forrest Gump. “Freedom and Democracy” is an eternal theme in USA. That’s why Forrest Gump can get the opportunity to go to the university. Even he becomes a football star and visits the president, even though his IQ is only 75. Then he makes contributions to the country and becomes a hero. Also he makes a lot of friends. Finally he sets up a company for commemorate his friend, Bubba. 

Second, struggle must be experienced in the process of realizing “American Dream”. In The pursuit of Happyness, when Chris sees the incorrect word “happiness” in the gate of kindergarten, he says:” There is no “y” in happiness. It’s an “I”.” It seems to reveal that success needs “I” to struggle not “why”. Chris has been trying to show his eloquence and social skills to win recognition of the judges. After he gets the opportunity of internship, he fights for a full-time job. He sets up a company after he masters the skill. Finally, he becomes a millionaire.

Third, hope and faith. The Shawshank Redemption makes a characterization of Andy’s hope and faith. Andy is accused of murdering his wife and her lover by mistake. In the prison, Andy becomes victim to bullying. But he never surrenders but fights against it. He makes prison keepers evade huge taxes legally. So he obtains beer in return. Also, by writing letters to the governor of the state, he succeeds in applying for a small sum of money to build a library. His wish is to escape from his prison and he fights for it for about twenty years with some small tools that escape notice. The tools seem irrelevant with each other; actually they help him and finally realize his dream. In the movie, He is calm, wise and humorous with full of hope in his heart. Especially, when he goes to the radio room to broadcast the disc clips, it is a beautiful song and makes people feel hopeful. Because Andy himself has wishes with full of hope. He is an influence to others. 

However, on the other hand, some other movies embody that “American Dream” has been shattered. 

The representative movies are The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman and the Godfather. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby and Daisy love each other. But because of the First World War, Gatsby and Daisy break up as Gatsby joins the Army. Then Daisy marries a man who is from a regal family, Tom. Gatsby believes what makes Daisy betray is money. Hence, he does illegal business to be a rich man for the purpose of getting Daisy back. When he feels sure that he can make Daisy fall in love with him again, Daisy kills Myrtle, Tom’s lover, with driving Gatsby’s car. Gatsby takes the responsibility for Daisy because he loves Daisy. However Tom instigates Myrtle’s husband to kill Gatsby. When people hold a funeral for Gatsby, Tom and Daisy are on their way to travel. At this point, the story teller and witness, Nick feels people’s indifference and ruthless, as well as the city. So his American dream is destroyed. Finally he goes back to his hometown and lives a calm life. "Great Gatsby" appears to be a love story; actually it is about "hopelessness and human vulnerability." As Nick points out, the green light at the Daisy House Pier not only symbolizes Gatsby's dream for Daisy, but also symbolizes the American dream. Thus, Gatsby's failure symbolizes the bursting of the American dream. 

Death of a Salesman questions the American dream is difficult to match in the context of consumerism era. While pursuing happiness and achieving his own American dream, the hero Willy is a typical tragic figure. He has a strong dissatisfaction with reality and always misses the old days. In the growing modern business environment, he cannot accept reform and innovation in the company. So he certainly has no status. He is convinced that his unhappiness is due to the failure of his career. He also pays attention to invisible things all the time, such as personal charisma, but does not care about the real achievements. Also because of his failure in family education, his son Biff can not recognize himself correctly. When he realizes that he is not as great as his father believes, he collapses and tells his father to be realistic. At the end, Willy rushes out and drives to kill himself. This is another tragedy. 

One of the important themes in the Godfather series is the critique of American and American dreams. Godfather has three episodes. The episode two tells that “Vito works hard in order to maintain a person's basic life. Because he lives in the neighborhood which is controlled by the Italian mafia boss then, not only every businessman has to pay protection fees, Vito also loses the job of the grocery store because of the mafia boss's nephew. Vito's desire to become rich through honesty and diligence is shattered, as well as his American dream. When he feels hopeless to maintain a family’s livelihood, Vito has to do illegal activities - - theft. But the mafia boss does not let him go and still charges a protection fee. So Victoria has to murder him. From then on, Vito embarks on another road which owns wealth and gradually will have a high social status. He is "successful" finally and goes into the upper class as a mafia boss. Meeting dignitary, he seems to be in his own way to achieve his “American dream”. The episode three mainly describes the old Michael, Vito’s son, as the new mafia boss, tries to legalize the family business, but he fails, because the crime is always one after another, he can no longer get out. And ultimately Michael not only loses the most important things in life: love, friendship, dignity and peace of mind, but also loses their own families. "The myth of success" is a core element of the American dream, suggests that everyone can be from nothing to be wealthy in United States. In this social environment, the ruthless competition of individualism and "survival of the fittest" are rooted in vast majority people's mind. The Godfather is undoubtedly from an extreme but thought-provoking view to criticize the distorted American dream values that people can give up any principle for the wealth.

2. Conclusion

  “American Dream” can not be only defined by positive or negative. When each literature work or artistic creation is created, it has its own time background. With the influences, the authors want to express different views, also different situation create different people. However, “American Dream” is like a belief. It encourages people to pursuit happiness and wealth, to reach their goals and realize dreams. Anyhow, the prerequisites of making “American Dream” come true is to keep the heart and correct values, to learn skills, recognize yourself and accept yourself.  

二、^范文提纲 Outline

1. “American Dream” Introduction

The definition of “American Dream”

Main contents of “American Dream” from American movies

The basis for realizing the American Dream of the movies

2.1. Material wealth

2.2. Spiritual wealth

3. The Necessary Conditions for the Realization of the “American Dream” which are learned from American movies

3.1. To keep correct values

3.2. To recognize oneself and accept oneself

3.3. To learn at least one skill 

3.4. To be diligent and to keep making effort

4. The significance of “American Dream”

5. Conclusion

三、参考文献References

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